140 JEROME CAKDAN. 



the occasion. Francisco, the last Sforza, he whom Cardan 

 had encountered among gamblers, died at the age of 

 thirty-nine. Expelled from home by the French, his 

 childhood had been spent in Germany. In 1521, the 

 Emperor and Pope together had resolved upon his re- 

 establishment. The French resisted their design until the 

 overthrow at Pa via, but after that decisive battle, Charles 

 had delayed the execution of his promise. Then Fran- 

 cisco had joined the Italian league, had been betrayed by 

 Marquis Pescara, besieged in Milan by the emperor, and 

 reduced in 1526 to the abandonment of his designs. In 

 1529 the Emperor and Pope had agreed to receive him 

 again into favour, and had allowed him to buy of them 

 his dukedom with a large sum of money. From that 

 time he had given little trouble to his master, but in 1534 

 he had beheaded a subject named Meraviglia, who was 

 supposed to serve the French interest at his court, and 

 troubles might have followed had the duke not died in 

 the succeeding year. He was a credulous, weak man. 

 Leaving no children by his wife Christina, he bequeathed 

 his dukedom to the emperor. This last fact was the chiei 

 subject of the embassy to which Archinto was attached. 

 The young noble who had shown in Milan so much pro- 

 mise of. a prosperous career, a man of the world in the 

 true sense of the term, genial, prompt, and learned, found 

 his opportunity when he was sent into the presence of the 



